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Utah-Oregon Preview

Marcus Mariota insists his left knee isn't a concern and that
he'll be ready to go Saturday when No. 6 Oregon hosts Utah.

There are lingering questions about how much the mysterious knee
injury contributed to the Ducks' 26-20 loss at Stanford last
Thursday. Oregon (8-1, 5-1 Pac-12) doesn't discuss injuries, and
the sophomore quarterback hasn't been specific about what's going
on.

Asked this week whether his knee is an issue, Mariota replied:
"Not at all." Pressed whether he is 100 percent, he said: "That's
something that I can't tell you."

Mariota remains a Heisman Trophy hopeful with a stellar season
thus far. He's completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 22
touchdowns with no interceptions, and he's second on the team with
495 yards rushing and nine additional TDs.

He has gone 327 attempts without an interception, an ongoing
Pac-12 record that dates to last year.

But against the Cardinal, it became apparent that Mariota's
mobility was hampered. He passed for 250 yards and two TDs. Three
of his six rushes were sacks, putting him in negative yardage on
the ground.

"My knee is what it is. I'm not going to use that as an excuse,"
he said.

Mariota is believed to have injured his knee in a 42-14 victory
over then-No. 12 UCLA on Oct. 26, and he played the second half
with a brace. He wore a brace throughout the game at Stanford.

He was practicing this week with the first team, again wearing a
brace. Backup Jeff Lockie worked out with the second team.

Mariota said, "Yes, for sure," when asked whether he'd play
against the Utes (4-5, 1-5).

The loss to Stanford dropped Oregon from No. 2 in the AP
rankings and all but ended its bid for a spot in the BCS
championship game. It was much the same last season when Stanford
defeated Oregon 17-14 at Autzen Stadium, effectively shutting the
door on both a title game bid and the Pac-12 championship for the
Ducks.

Oregon will need to win its remaining games and hope the
fifth-ranked Cardinal drop one of their final two conference
contests to get back in control of hosting the Pac-12 championship.
Stanford visits Southern California on Saturday before hosting
rival California, then finishes with an out-of-conference matchup
against Notre Dame.

After Utah, the Ducks travel to Arizona and end the season by
hosting rival Oregon State in the annual Civil War game. Should the
Ducks win out, they'll likely earn a trip to the Fiesta or Orange
Bowl.

"Our guys believe 100 percent in our process," coach Mark
Helfrich said. "We got beat by a very good team. You look at what
you did well and you look at what you didn't do well, and you try,
obviously, to do more of the former than the latter. And move
on."

Utah's lone Pac-12 victory this season was 27-21 over Stanford
on Oct. 12, and it looked like it was on the verge of upsetting
another ranked team last Saturday.

The Utes led then-No. 23 Arizona State by 12 points heading into
the fourth quarter, but the Sun Devils scored with 2:37 remaining
to pull out a 20-19 victory and hand Utah a third straight
loss.

Utah, which had won 49 consecutive games when leading at
halftime, was also tied with UCLA in the fourth quarter of a 34-27
loss Oct. 3.

"That's the second or third game we've let go in the fourth
quarter," defensive end Trevor Reilly said. "We need to remember
our technique in the fourth quarter.

"To be one quarter away from beating another Top 25 team at home
and be one win away from a bowl game and to lose like that was
hard. It was ours to lose and we just lost."

These teams have never met as members of the Pac-12, and Oregon
leads the all-time series 18-8. The Ducks beat the visiting Utes
31-24 in the last matchup in 2009.

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